Full Text:

Fairfield Hills Greenhouse Plan Will Reap Rewards For The Disabled

(with photo)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

It's bigger than a baseball, succulent, red and juicy.

Manuel Machado, Jr, looks down at his cupped hand. He imagines an

organically-grown red Goliath tomato sitting in his palm while describing his

ongoing efforts to bring to fruition his first Fairfield Hills crop of garden

vegetables.

Mr Machado, a Danburian who heads the non-profit Veterans Claims Assistance

Program (VetCAP), reached an agreement with the state in late 1997 to build a

greenhouse complex on five acres of rich bottomland at Fairfield Hills where

organic vegetables will be grown and harvested by the disabled.

VetCAP is one of three groups which have gained state approval to farm the

land. VetCAP is a private, non-profit organization that helps military

veterans obtain benefits from the federal government.

Disabled veterans and other disabled people will grow organic vegetables,

including tomatoes, which are required by people who have Multiple Chemical

Sensitivity (MCS), a malady in which past exposure to toxins causes immune

system malfunction. Pesticides used in conventional food production are

injurious to MCS patients.

The broad field planned for greenhouse construction lies northwest of Wildlife

Road and west of the Pootatuck River. It holds some of the best alluvial

farmland soils in the state.

Mr Machado, his father, and Donald Couillard have done basic work needed

before four large greenhouses can be assembled on the site adjacent to the

Governor's Horse Guard.

Mr Machado had hoped the project would be farther along than it is now. But

VetCAP has encountered some delays, he explained. The delays involve

connecting the site to Fairfield Hills' water supply system, extending

electrical service to the site, and gaining the use of a vacant barn which

formerly was used as a piggery, Mr Machado explained.

He met with officials from the state Department of Public Works (DPW) Tuesday

and received assurances that the problems will be solved.

"It seems we've resolved the problems" with the utilities, he said. "It seems

like we made good progress today," he said.

Pat Nolan, a DPW spokesman, said Wednesday DPW officials had a productive

meeting with Mr Machado Tuesday on resolving the water supply, electrical

service and barn access issues.

"The paperwork is in the works. We're working with the attorney general's

office to have the matter resolved by the spring," Mr Nolan said.

Following Tuesday's meeting, Mr Machado said, though, he would like a stronger

assurance that VetCAP will get access to the barn.

A water connection is needed for crop irrigation. Electrical service is needed

to heat the greenhouses and to power greenhouse fans. VetCAP would use the

barn for storage, a worker training area, and for office space.

Construction

Mr Machado, his father, and Don Couillard have done initial work on VetCAP's

project to build four greenhouses on five acres of prime bottomland that

VetCAP leases from the state for $1 per year. Mr Machado estimates the

construction project is about one-third done.

Mr Machado said he hopes VetCAP has its first crop growing in its first

completed greenhouse by May, and hopes to have all four of the

2,500-square-foot greenhouses built by the fall. The structures are made of

metal framing and plastic sheeting.

VetCAP will use styrofoam barriers in the ground along the edge of the

greenhouses to keep its soil from becoming contaminated with the chemical

pesticides used by an adjacent conventional vegetable farming operation.

VetCAP's greenhouses will be pressurized to keep their atmospheres free from

air-borne pesticides.

"As long as we can communicate, we'll be fine," Mr Machado has said of

VetCAP's need to know the conventional farmers' schedules for applying

chemicals and pesticides to their crops.

VetCAP plans a growing scheme in which soil within the greenhouses will be

mounded up from the ground instead of planting the crops in trays.

The mounding serves two important purposes. It preserves the earthy, intense

taste of the vegetables, as well as allowing wheelchair-bound workers easy

access to the crops. Crops will include tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli,

green bell peppers, cucumbers, parsley, kale and soybeans.

A Middletown physician is consulting with VetCAP on suitable crops to grow.

Lime and manure will be added to the Agawam fine sandy loam to make it

suitable for intensive growing, Mr Machado said.

The year-round farming project will include a mulch-cropping and composting

operation. Tomatoes will be produced all but five weeks of the year, according

to Mr Machado.

By 2002, Mr Machado hopes to have a total 24 people working in various aspects

of the vegetable growing operation. He projects that number would increase to

about 50 people by 2006.

Workers will include disabled and homeless veterans, substance abusers who are

undergoing rehabilitation, and people in welfare-to-work programs, Mr Machado

said. About 25 percent of the workers will be veterans. The curriculum for the

training program will be supplied by the state's vocational-technical school

system.